The right-wing dark money group that helped Donald Trump “capture” the Supreme Court is now working to undermine the Biden administration’s efforts to enforce voting rights.
The Judicial Crisis Network is running ads attacking Justice Department nominees Vanita Gupta and Kristen Clarke — a pair of widely respected litigators and civil rights activists — as part of a related new organization, the Honest Elections Project, with an improbable name, reported The Daily Beast.
Conservative legal activist Leonard Leo, the longtime executive vice president of the Federalist Society, is coordinating efforts by the various dark-money front groups to pack the Supreme Court and then to bring voting rights cases in front of those right-wing courts.
The Honest Elections Project has been running negative ads against Democrats, challenging voter rolls, filing lawsuits seeking voting restrictions — and attacking Gupta and Clarke.
Gupta once ran the Civil Rights Division, where she prosecuted hate crimes and human trafficking, prompted disability and LGBTQ rights, fighting discrimination in all areas of life, and challenging voter suppression, and President Joe Biden has nominated her as assistant attorney general.
Clarke has been nominated to fill Gupta’s previous role in the Civil Rights Division, where she would enforce voting rights — which the Trump administration basically ignored.